closet

Saturday, January 1, 2005

Sweet Party

Hooray! You found me! If you are reading this, it means you have received your party invitation and are thinking about coming, or you are so terribly bored that you have read to the bitter end of my blog. Either way, I'm very excited.

So...not that you need it...but here's a little bit of why behind the party:

If you have a few minutes, read this story. It really inspired me. If you're not into reading online (and I don't blame you), you can listen to the author himself (if you can take it) reading the condensed version on this radio broadcast. Just follow the link (hopefully), let it load, and fast forward to 21:15 minutes into the show.

Did you get it? Well, anyway...This year, God has really taught me to look at life and at Him with the wonder of a child. I guess that's what I really hope to celebrate in coming together: the life and love and freedom and simplicity that began, for us, at Christmas. This year, I hope it hits each of us with all the wonder of children seeing something for the first time. Take a look around you. Chances are, you don't have to look too far to find wonder. In a friend. In nature. And then of course, there's all the things we can't even see. We are truly blessed children. Can we celebrate that? Can we be like children heading off to the birthday party of The Greatest Child ever? I'm excited.

A little about the how:

If you find yourself stressing out about making a gift or wondering what 'fancyish' is...don't! Nothing about this party should in any way be stressful! Trust it coming from me, who stresses out easily. In an attempt to cushion any well-worn party nerves...

Remember that your homemade gift can be ANYTHING. Anything that owes at least some part of its existence to you, and uses up supplies you already have. The beauty of this exchange is that no spending is allowed, and we all have the same amount of time to make something. Bake, write, build, compute, copy, make noise, draw, paint, stitch, compile, burn, embellish, manipulate, photograph, print, cut, paste...and do anything else I've forgotten. If you lack supplies, come raid my place. If you lack ideas, you're welcome to raid my brain or my favorite project sites online...but I suspect you might have more fun if you don't (my brain is a messy, messy place...as is my computer)! All the same...we all know I'm always up for a project day!

Keep in mind that this is for a gift swap of some (as yet undetermined) kind. I wouldn't recommend pouring all of your heart and soul into it. For one thing, you will need it to give to the Birthday Child. And for another, watching your precious gift get fought over or rejected in white elephant style might be too much to bear. (While wanting to be careful of trivializing...An interesting thought occurs to me on how God must have felt releasing His precious gift to the hands of potential rejectors...) Rest assured that I have a team of highly skeptical gift openers working round the clock to make this as painless as possible. As well as a team of very easily wowed and forever encouraging friends. I'm open to suggestions about the exchange too. Maybe we can just draw names and leave it at that. Or we can use them as game prizes or speed-angeling prizes. If you're still worried, then I say go for edible or ridiculous, because everyone loves to eat and laugh.

As far as the meaning of fancyish goes, I say whatever makes you feel childlike and partyish is great. (I know. My adjectives are unforgivable.) In keeping with the child's birthday theme, I like to imagine 6 year old versions of ourselves stumbling into our current closets (or mine, if you want to wear a horse head all night) and playing dress up. Of course, I also know how camera happy you all are (and me too), so...we'll see if vanity wins. It's probably a good idea to dress with some warmth in mind, because there may be some speed-angeling involved. What is speed-angeling, dare you ask? Well, it is the new Olympic sport that Bee and I invented, in which you hit the ground flying...making as many snow angels as possible before the snow creeps in and frostbites you. Not recommended in party dresses and tuxes. Though that would for sure make a great picture and guarantee you a prize.

Okay, that's it. Feel free to contribute any thoughts. Chances are...I'm preaching to the proverbial choir when I worry about people stressing. You're probably all very laid-back, and on top of your party game!

I really hope you can come. Please feel free to invite a friend to join you. Just be sure to warn them that it can get pretty cozy in my apartment!Thanks for dropping by. Take care and Happy Holidays!